Making soap from homemade lye

by Renee
(Tennessee)

I have searched for days to find correct measurements for making soap from homemade lye(the kind that is liquid and ready, not crystallized). Do you happen to know what the liquid measurements for this type of lye used with what amount of lard would be to make soap without having to let the water evaporate once the egg floats/or chicken feather dissolves?


Answer:

No, I'm afraid I have only a general idea how to make homemade lye and have absolutely no idea how to calculate the amounts needed. I do know that you will need to find out what the concentration is of your lye solution in order to correctly figure out how much you need. How you figure either out is a mystery to me though.

Sorry,
Cathy

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starstarstarstarstar 		liquid lye
by: jax

Hi there, I use liquid lye that I buy from the hardware section of the local supermarket and it works just fine in my cp soap. I find it's easier than ordering and waiting for delivery of crystals, easier to handle and also it doesn't seem to 'burn' your ingresients like crystals can, presumeably because it's more diluted.

Use the www.soapcalc.net lye calculator.

Under no. 1 tick 'NaOH'

Under no. 2 tick pounds or ounces or grams, whichever you use

Under no. 3 tick the MIDDLE one, 'lye concentration' and enter the percentage of your liquid lye (usually 30 or 30.5% for me)

Under no. 4 enter your preferred ratios

Now calculate your recipe using whatever oils you have chosen.

When you're happy with the recipe, print off your page and.....

this is the most important bit: ADD TOGETHER THE TOTAL WEIGHTS OF WATER AND LYE IN THE'INGREDIENT' BOX

- this is the amount of liquid lye you will use as the lye calculator has already taken into account the % rate and water content.

I find it's best if I calculate these together before I print the page and add them in on the notes section, that way I don't forget to do it before I get my ingredients ready.

I've been using this method for over a year now and it works fine for me EXCEPT when I want to add a different liquid instead of water, e.g. beer soap or milk soap - because the addition of extra liquid will make your soap too runny it's better in those situations to use lye crystals.

Hope this helps and good luck with the soap!
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starstarstarstarstar 		homemade liquid lye soap
by: Anonymous

http://www.grandpappy.info/wsoap.htm

Grandpappy's Homemade Soap Recipe

Try the site listed above, I've had the same question for a long time and this site seems to have offered up the best information on the subject. I've not gotten around to trying the soap recipe itself, but I have made lye and rendering is my next step to undertake...

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